


An Overdue Conversation

by TheFairyQueenTitania



Category: A Tale of Beauty and Madness, A Tale of Beauty and Madness - Lili St. Crow
Genre: Closure, Confession, F/M, Road Trip, Small Fandom, Summer Vacation, hotel room, kiss, sprained ankle, sweet kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 04:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14276649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFairyQueenTitania/pseuds/TheFairyQueenTitania
Summary: While on summer vacation, Ruby sprains her ankle and Thorne stays behind to help her bandage it up.(This is a oneshot, and will probably later end up being part of a longer piece of work.)





	An Overdue Conversation

**Author's Note:**

> There is not much of an online fanbase for these books or characters yet, but I'm going to publish this anyways. If you guys enjoy it, you really should check out the series: A Tale of Beauty and Madness by Lili St. Crow. I promise they're better than the title makes them sound.

“Ugggghhhhhh,” Ruby groaned as Thorne helped her sit down on the couch. She threw her head back in frustration, the coils of her read hair bunching at the nape of her neck. She had curled it this morning in anticipation of a fun night, put a little more effort into her makeup than usual even, and now it was going to be no use.  
  
She liked to think it was the fault of the sidewalks, not just the smooth-step charm wearing out on her favorite heels. She couldn’t be that clumsy that she’d trip on a crack for no reason, even if she was wearing stilettos, right?  
  
“You alright?” Thorne looked back at her over his shoulder, dark hair falling in front of his dark eyes, concern evident in his expression.  
  
“Fine, just…frustrated.”  
  
Thorne nodded, turning back to the cabinets of the hotel room the girls were staying in, rummaging through them for first-aid supplies. He had already called to the front desk for ice, ointment, and some bandages, but he was hoping he might be able to find something more immediate.  
  
“I’m going to miss out on all the fun!” Ruby threw on arm over her forehead in an overdramatic gesture, then peeked out from beneath to see if Thorne was paying attention to her.  
  
He wasn’t, of course, and was just standing up from the last set of cabinets. “They don’t have anything here,” he said, ignoring her earlier statement. “Sorry.”  
  
“Of course they don’t.”  
  
Thorne came back to the couch, plopping down next to Ruby with a sigh. “You want to take off your shoes?” he asked, gesturing to the stilettos.  
  
She rolled her eyes, but reached down to begin pulling them off anyways. “I guess.”  
  
Without warning, Thorne grabbed the ankle closest to him, bringing it up to his lap so he could set about on the other shoe. Ruby could feel the blood rising to her face at the unexpected contact, the callouses of Thorne’s palms rough against the sun-kissed tones of her skin.  
  
She did her best to ignore it, chucking the left heel at the pile of suitcases she had brought that were stacked on the other side of the room. It landed with a clatter, and Thorne looked up, just easing the right shoe off her foot.  
  
“You sure you wanted to do that?”  
  
“I have to get them repaired anyways.” Ruby shrugged. “The charms are wearing thin, look.”  
  
She pointed to the shoe he held in his hand, the shimmer of the charms indeed a paler, thinner consistency.  
  
“You know I can’t see it,” Thorne said, but there was no hint of irritation in his voice.  
  
“Ah yes, I forgot. I may be Ruby the wild, but at least I can charm~” She said the last part with sing-song intonation, leaning closer to Thorne so that he pushed her away with a barely-concealed smile.  
  
There was a knock on the door, and Thorne got up to answer it, revealing the sweaty face of the teenage bellhop. He seemed nervous as he handed the basket of supplies to Thorne, peeking around him to look at the room. With a smile, Ruby waved, and bellhop straightened immediately.  
  
“As you requested, sir,” the bellhop said, bowing slightly, and then hurried off down the hall. Thorne closed the door, and turned to look back at Ruby, raising his eyebrows.  
  
“That was…interesting,” he said, coming back to sit with her, setting the basket on the floor next to his feet.  
  
“Here, sit like this.” Thorne guided Ruby, hands gentle on her shoulders and then under her knees so that her back was to the armrest of the couch, and her legs extended down the length of it, feet in his lap. “It’s this one, right?” He tapped the right ankle, which was indeed red, and starting to swell.  
  
Ruby could only nod, swallowing the strange taste in her mouth. The world suddenly seemed impossibly warm, the room stuffy, closing in and opening up at the same time. Her attention was on the gentle touches of Thorne’s hands as he examined her ankle, turning it this way and that, rubbing a circle around the knobby little bones with his finger, to which Ruby winced.  
  
“Sorry,” he said, and reached down to the basket, grabbing out the cream and the bandages. With light little strokes he applied the ointment, which was supposed to relax the sprained tissue.  
  
Now really flustered, and not knowing what else to say, Ruby looked down at her hands, fiddling with her fingers. “No, I should be sorry, I’m keeping you from the fun….”  
Thorne looked up from the sprain in surprise. “Did you just apologize?”  
  
“Maybe….”  
  
He sighed, but he was smiling, which Ruby could see as she looked back up at him and held eye contact. “It’s fine Ruby. I’d rather be in here with you anyways. That Vultsino was really getting on my nerves.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“Hey.” Thorne snapped his fingers, grabbing Ruby’s attention again. “Everything okay? You’re starting to freak me out, de Varre.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess.”  
  
“Do you not want to be here with me?” There was hurt behind the words, but they were strong, stern, smooth.  
  
Ruby knew her face must be bright red by now, could feel its heat, didn’t know how he hadn’t connected the dots yet. “Of course I want to be here with you, idiot. It just feels like I curled my hair for nothing now.”  
  
Thorne tilted his head back and laughed, a sonorous sound that filled the room, exposing the smooth tan skin of his neck. “There’s the Ruby I know. Do me a favor, and don’t apologize, ever again, it’s weird.”  
  
“You sure?” There was a teasing tone to the words, and Thorne caught on as he grabbed the bandages and began to wrap the ankle.  
  
“I’ll accept the consequences.”  
  
“Really? You never want me to apologize, again?”  
  
“It’s just not like you, de Varre. You do everything unapologetically, with all your spirit. It’s one of the things I love about you.” He said the last part as a whisper, quiet under his breath, but Ruby heard it anyways. She had to turn away as he finished bandaging her ankle, and set the ice on top.  
  
“You want to move?” he asked when he had finished, and Ruby nodded, mute once more.  
  
“I’ll help you, come on.” He stood, helping her to turn so that her ankle was elevated on the armrest her back had been against a moment ago. Then, as he sat down next to her, he put his strong, broad hands on her waist—a warm point of contact that now seemed so sensitive to Ruby—and lifted her to set her on top of his lap.  
  
“Is that okay?” he asked as she leaned against his chest, the strong scent of Woodsdowne—and was that a little bit of cologne he was wearing—enveloping her.  
  
“Yeah, I think this is okay.” She said the words the same way as if she was talking to one of her boytoys with a half-smile, but her heart was beating fast in her chest, and the way she fit against him felt imperfect. She kept trembling, she was so nervous, so afraid of disturbing him, of disturbing this moment.  
  
His arms went around her, chin nuzzling into her hair, mussing up the curls even more, and the hints of stubble caught on her scalp. “Relax,” he whispered against her. “Just relax, I’m not going anywhere.”  
  
They stayed like that for a long time, how long Ruby didn’t know. All she knew was her heart was beating fast, filling her ears with its pounding. She was supposed to be good at this, wasn’t supposed to get nervous or flustered anymore. She thought she had conquered that with the prep boys and the party boys and the charm boys. She thought she had conquered that during that sticky summer barbeque when they had kissed for the first time, hot and fervent.  
  
But neither of them had, for his heart was beating just as hard, just as fast, and she could hear it in his chest, and it seemed to her like it was about to burst out. She felt a bit like she was going to throw up, bile building in her throat, but it was a good kind of feeling in that moment, and she managed to do as Thorne had asked and gradually relaxed.  
  
“Ruby.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
Thorne eased her away for a moment so she could look him in the eyes, and she saw all the desire written there, everything that he had repressed so she could have time to heal, time to choose a path of her own, but now it was rising to the surface.  
  
“Yeah?” she repeated, now a whisper, the same type of desire lying beneath the words, in the breathiness of her voice.  
  
“I’ve wanted to do this, for a long time now,” he said. “I think, ever since I came to your window. No. Before that. I’ve wanted to do this ever since that barbeque several summers ago, but I knew you didn’t feel nearly the same way.”  
  
Ruby waited, expectant, hesitant, and then Thorne tilted his head and leaned in.  
  
It was soft, and awkward, not written with the same type of lust as that summer one, as any of the kisses she had had with past lovers. Thorne seemed to be waiting for permission, his hands barely touching her, just supporting her.  
  
Without thinking she grabbed his shirt, bunched the cotton material in her fist, and pulled him closer.  
  
Thorne’s arms wrapped around her, a comfortable security building, and he deepened the kiss, fitting to her, his lips soft, the stubble of his chin scratching against her cheek.  
  
Every few seconds they’d pull away, breathe, and then Ruby would see that same look in Thorne’s eyes, and he’d lean in again.  
  
“I love you,” he whispered against her in between a kiss, his breath tickling her lips, his hands rubbing circles on her back.  
  
There were plenty of things Ruby could have said in response—I know; Of course you do; Oh really—but none seemed right for the situation, so instead she said something she never had.  
  
“I love you too.”


End file.
